Breathe in the Fire, Swallow the Flames
by Hannahmayski
Summary: Sasuke isn't thrilled about being back in Konoha after the Fourth Shinobi War. Naruto needs to understand the world beyond Konoha's borders. Sai fixes both issues. (and assassins are damn terrifying)


**Summary: Sasuke isn't thrilled about being back in Konoha after the Fourth Shinobi War. Naruto needs to understand the world beyond Konoha's borders. Sai fixes both issues. (and assassins are damn terrifying)**

* * *

"Naruto loves you."

Sasuke freezes. He doesn't look up at Sai's face that he knows won't reveal anything anyway.

"But he's an idiot. A close-minded idiot."

Sasuke turns then and faces Sai, keeping his face is impassive as he can. Sai's face might as well be a cardboard cut-out because even after been on Team 7, Sai rarely ever lets emotions affect how his face looks. Sasuke doesn't know many with that amount of control.

Sai is seated on the open window sill to Sasuke's apartment. Dressed in Jounin blues and the typical green vest, Sasuke thinks Sai looks so terribly normal it's unnerving.

Sai blends into the masses in a way that Sasuke isn't used to seeing. When he was in the village he was with the infamous copy-nin and the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Sakura couldn't smash boulders with her bare hands then and now he realises she was always a force waiting to be released.

When he left the village he was with Orochimaru. And was seeing S-rank criminals left, right and centre.

But, Sasuke thinks he would look over Sai on a mission. Look right past him because he doesn't scream danger. The way he walks doesn't scream shinobi. Sai has mastered the art of going under the radar.

No wonder he's in the Anbu. And climbing the ranks.

It's stupid really. He could win against Sai. Sai's speciality is assassinations – killing people before they even know he's there and disappearing before anyone else knew he was there at all. Whereas Sasuke's used to been in the thick of the fight, like a bulldozer.

Sai makes him uncomfortable in a way he can't explain. He wants to say it's irrational, but Sai's been a shinobi longer than Sasuke, longer than Naruto and longer than Sakura.

Sasuke might be able to win in a fight against Sai if it was a head to head fight. But Sai is used to taking any and every advantage he can snag. Assassins are different like that. To an assassin, fair fights don't exist. He can't let Sai get the upper ground at all.

"I do not think Naruto can be Hokage right now."

Sasuke whips around, heart pounding with the irrational urge to protect the idiot that wanted him to return so desperately, but Sai merely raises an eyebrow at his reaction.

"I said right now." Sai clarifies. He stares at Sasuke but this intensity is different from the scrutinising glares of intel agents and the distrusting glances of shinobi who really have every right to be wary. The veterans are all too battle-scarred to believe that Sasuke isn't going to turn around and try to destroy the leaf at any second.

Sai's stare is… calculating, but also indifferent. Like he doesn't care. Sasuke has no idea how to feel about that.

"Naruto loves the village, but he hasn't got any concept of what life is like outside Konoha. If we want peace, don't you think it's important that Konoha's leader is able to see from another's perspective?"

Sasuke leans back against the wall of his apartment. "Your point?" he asks, keeping his voice steady, if slightly annoyed.

Sai slides into his apartment, as graceful and eerily silent as all assassins seem to be.

"I find it difficult to believe that after all of that you truly want to be back in Konoha." Sai's eyes never leave his, and Sasuke can't read anything from them. They're like a blank canvas, and Sasuke cannot tell what he's thinking.

"You want to travel, right? Then bring Naruto with you. You can show him the way the world really works, help fix up the most damaged places from the war. It's a win-win."

Sasuke glares at him and tries to work out a reason why Sai would bother trying to help and comes up with a terrifying blank. Sasuke's talked with Sai multiple times now since being back with Team 7 but even in all their conversations, Sasuke still knows nothing about him.

"Why are you doing this?"

Sasuke's had enough of feeling played. At least when people are scared of him they don't try to manipulate him.

"Naruto is my friend and" Sai pauses. His face doesn't change but Sasuke's sure he can feel hesitation.

"He helped me see I was just being used as a puppet, basically."

Well. Now Sasuke knows something about him. Not that that's clarified anything.

Sasuke raises an eyebrow but Sai doesn't offer any further explanation.

"He has the potential to be a great Hokage, but we don't need Hokage like we've had before. We don't need war experts." Sai gracefully jumps back on the window sill and gives Sasuke a slight nod.

"I will talk to Kakashi for you." He says. Sai's face drips like it's melting. His body falling away to thick black splotches of ink before he disappears completely.

Sasuke curses. A clone. Of course. Sasuke might not trust Sai, but Sai doesn't trust Sasuke either. Or maybe it's less of a reflection of Sai's feelings towards him and more to do with the Anbu.

And Sai didn't even give him an option in the end, but… he's right.

Konoha is the place that caused the death of his entire clan. The place that coerced his brother into doing it. He doesn't want to be here.

And Naruto can't maintain peace like this. Konoha functions like Konoha, but Kiri, Iwa, Kumo and Suna all function differently. Not to mention the smaller villages that have been stomped all over in the wars like they don't matter are going to need help to recover.

Naruto loves Konoha, but he needs to learn to love the rest of the world before he can become Hokage in a time like this.

Sai is right. And Sasuke can't help but hate that.

* * *

 **Saw a post on tumblr about Naruto and Sasuke travelling together so Naruto could get a better grasp of the world and be a better Hokage... so this happened. lmao**


End file.
